Life is a Highway and They Were Stuck on it All Night Long

 

I-95 South at US 17 near Fredericksburg, VA, 8/29/18

I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.

Sure, I've slept in my car, frankly, many times. The hours and life that I lead have caused me to take many a power nap. Sometimes it's been due to exhaustion.

Other times, like after calling basketball at Post University, it's the weather that made me car-bound.

Still, say you're on Interstate 95 heading towards Richmond, VA. You know the weather isn't great (accumulating snow, etc) but you've taken your chances.

And then?

Traffic slows up.

Then you stop.

Completely stop.

And, for the most part, you don't move for 24 hours.

This isn't some bad apocalyptic movie starring Will Smith. This is real.

It happened.

I take note of these things wherever it occurs. Crazy snow on I-80 in California? Sure. I see it on the Weather Channel.

Trouble due to lake effect snow on the New York State Thruway (I-90)? Oh yeah.

Snow in Wyoming or Colorado or Utah? Yes, yes, yes.

Roads close. Travelers get stuck. It sadly happens too often.

But, roughly 30 miles south of Washington, DC?

I'm intimately familiar with this part of I-95 and perhaps you are as well. It is -- and no other nice way to say it -- a traffic nightmare. For years it has been clogged by some of the traffic in the nation just by its very nature. I've said it before: I was taught by my father to have a healthy fear of Washington rush hour and I can assure you he was correct.

However, constant construction on 95 has been an issue for years, whether it was for the reconstruction of the infamous "Mixing Bowl" interchange where 95/495/395/Capital Beltway meet and merge or for the addition of more "HOV Express" lanes.

Now, to be clear, I only travel these roads maybe once or twice a year. Rarely more. I can't even imagine doing it on a daily basis. That being said, I've gotten used to having my head on a swivel when I'm in the area, prepared to dash off 95 onto one of a number of side roads to try to get around any issues.

I've normally got WTOP radio on to listen to traffic reports.

In this case, with snow accumulating, trucks jackknifing, and the moisture turning to ice, people were stuck.

The only thing one could hope for was that they were prepared with food and blankets and anything else. There were people traveling with pets and children and so on. It wasn't pretty.

It also wasn't warm.

There have been times over the years that I also loaded my trunk with a sleeping bag or a blanket and a shovel in case I got into some kind of a weather mess -- like that one at Post U.

I took note of the Virginia issues before going to bed last night, never imagining it would still be going on when I got up this morning but The Weather Channel told me otherwise.

From there, it was back to WTOP for me and they've done a great job.

I-95? A mess.

US 1, which parallels 95? Ditto.

It didn't matter where you were. From Exit 104, where the Aunt Sarah's Pancake House used to be to Exit 152 up towards Dale City, I-95 was locked both ways.

I mean locked. This wasn't like the time I sat in traffic in the middle of the night on I-684 for three hours. Police eventually had us turn around and drive the shoulder southbound in the northbound lanes to go down one exit and head off to wherever we were going. That was nothing compared to this but, I'll always remember that it was cold and I had plenty of gas in the car. 

Indeed, I went to sleep.

But in Virginia there were no answers to so travelers became friends. Food trucks making deliveries opened up to feed their fellow strandees.

Whether in Spotsylvania, Fredericksburg, Ladysmith, Stafford, Thornburg or Ruther Glen, people did everything to make the best of it.

When The Weather Channel sent a reporter to an overpass above 95, I couldn't help but smile.

"He's standing on 207 at exit 104," I said to no one. Sean and I had just used that exit back in July.

As I write (it's 8:12 p.m.) the mess has been cleaned up but, apparently, Interstate 95 is only slowly reopening and US 1 is bottlenecked.

The road surfaces are also freezing again.

Have I mentioned I hate winter?

Be safe, my friends in Virginia and traveling through.

It's funny how this is a stretch I used to love to drive.

Let's say it's not a favorite anymore.

I'd imagine the probably thousands of people who experienced this aren't too fond of it either.